Have you checked out my new free sample section yet? Well... don't you think it's time to? You can expect a new freebie every time I release a new digital kit, so come back or sign up for my newsletter! (it's over thata way >>>)

And while you're going all click-crazy, take a look through my new Etsy shop. It's starting to fill up :)

Well, I'm a week late in posting the pics, but the March art journal challenge is a wrap folks. Thanks so much to those who participated and posted on Instagram... it was a joy to see your creative pages!

There were definitely a few times throughout the month that I fell behind because of a creative block, so the challenge was good for me and pushed me to think outside of my little box. Also, a really exciting event took place (see day #20. spoiler: I said yes.) So, without further ado, the rest of the pages

Day 11 - Purple

Day 12 - Dream

Day 13 - Positive

Day 14 - Book Pages

Day 15 - Face

Day 16 - Dots

Day 17 - Magazine Cut Outs

Day 18 - Stickers

Day 19 - Numbers

It's officially finished! A whole month's worth of mugs with positive messages and designs. It took me a little longer than planned because, true to form, I decided to start TWO other projects before I was finished with this one, but the important thing is I finished and I love the whole thing. I stayed with one color palette and general style, so it got pretty challenging there at the end! There are 28 total in the collection, available as traditional mugs and travel mugs.Click here to view the set and purchase.

I've been wanting to share some of my favorite art Instagrammers since I started the art journal challenge... so here they are! I follow around 200 people and I would say the majority of them are creatives. Click on the names to visit their Instagram accounts.

I've known Shawna from the digital scrapbook world for quite awhile now, but when she started posting these bible journal pages I learned a whole new side of her. Her art is stunning and her faith is beautiful.

Jenn not only posts on Instagram but has a Youtube channel chock full of videos of her art process. She does the coolest things with raw materials and color so definitely check her out for lots of ideas.

It's because of Sara's monthly character lettering challenge that I've spent so many hours practicing my hand lettering, so I had to include her in the short list. Try her challenge and see how much you can improve your art in just 30 days.

Artjournals isn't a single person account but a whole community of art journalers. If you post your pages to Instagram tag them #artjournalsF @drawings and @celesta66 and they might add your pic to the account. You know, a little fame makes for a good day.

That's all I have for the moment. Let me know if you find these helpful and I'll decide if I should keep doing them. Laters!

Day 9 -To Do

Jeremy's is so cool I Instagrammed (word? now it is) it. He made his list the rest of the challenge prompts and added some really awesome metal gears and brads. His title pulls the whole look together. Perfect.

With a lot of changes taking place in my life I haven't had as much time and energy to read as I used to, so I knew pretty early on how I was going to do this challenge. These 4 books have been on my TBRlist for a long time and it's time to get them done. I sketched out my letters and numbers on some handmade paper, filled them Prismacolor pencils, then added the titles with a white Gellyroll pen.

Day 10 - Book Title

After I discovered Glennon Doyle Melton's blogI became a wee bit enamored. Then I read her books and became totally obsessed. Her second book, Love Warrior, is her memoir and is amazing. I have something underlined on pretty much every page.

New Supplies

Went to Michael's yesterday for a new craft knife and found a few other things.

A packet of kraft paper, tons of uses. I think I'll make extra pages in my book since I've already used too many and will run out before the end of the month.

Pink and black cardstock. The pink for my art journal and the black for a digital scrapbook kit I've been tinkering around with.

Totally rad glitter paper. I mean, this isn't that usually sparkly paper, this is straight up glitter... big shiny pieces of it. <swooning>

A Sharpie white paint marker. I am still on the hunt for the perfect white journaling pen. So far everything else has been a miserable fail, but this is oil-based and, hello, it's Sharpie. So I have hope.

So that's it for now. Expect to see some of these items in use over the next few posts.

Are you keeping up with me on Instagram or Facebook? I love making new friends, so look me up!

Food

For today's prompt I decided to do a rough sketch of everything that I ate which is pretty embarrassing to admit. No one should draw that much coffee and junk food. There's actually something missing because I had a hot dog for dinner and my attempts at drawing it resulted in something entirely inappropriate.

It's true.

Jeremy had this handwritten recipe for blueberry zucchini bread on his refrigerator for about three years and it called to him when he read this prompt. I love the sketches of the ingredients. He is much better at drawing than I am!

Mandala

I purposely picked this prompt because I wanted to color a mandala. It's so relaxing. I printed out a mandala from this website and filled it in with colored pencils then glued it down to a page I had already covered in orange paint. Added a title and accent circle and called it a day.

Jeremy kind of did the same thing except he's talented enough to draw his by hand. He used some handmade paper that made his colored pencils practically pop off the page. I'm going to use some of this paper myself in a few days. It's got some crazy awesome texture.

Glue

I used one of the glue project ideas from the Pinterest board I posted the other dayand ended up with this pretty lily. I printed out a free stained glass template from this website, put a sheet of printer paper over it and traced the outlines with Elmer's glue then let it try overnight. Next morning I painted inside the lines with watercolors and viola! a pretty, wrinkly mess.

Another fun glue technique is rubber cement resist painting, which is what Jeremy did with his Colorado landscape. The basic idea is to drizzle your surface with rubber cement, allow it to dry and then paint over it with watercolors. After the paint dries you can rub the glue off and it leaves a really pretty, arty (artsy? artish?) effect.

In the Sky

I've been wanting to learn how to paint or draw clouds for awhile, so I set up this prompt on purpose. After a little searching I decided on this method and, after a few fails, I came up with one that I didn't mind posting. After it dried I unceremoniously stuck it in my journal with some double-sided tape and called it a day. ​

Jeremy's is STUNNING, in my completely unbiased opinion. He started with some handmade paper that is full of texture and meticulously taped off the sections he didn't want painted. He covered those bare spots with gesso (with a few extra sprinkles and dots for stars and a planet) and then colored over it them colored pencil. I absolutely love how this turned out.

How are you feeling about your pages? Remember that you can save the image in my sidebar with the list of prompts and play along at Instagram. Use the hashtags #revival_designs and #artjournalchallenge so I can find your posts.

Outside

I originally had the idea of sitting outside at home and sketching the layout of the backyard, but then the weather got really chilly again and the plan lost it's appeal. SO... this is my view of the outside during the workday instead. I was going to color it in, but after I sketched it out it reminded me so much of the illustrations from the library books we got back in the 80's that I couldn't bring myself to change it.

​Jeremy had a similar idea, although admittedly he did his first. He drew the window and eyes first, then filled in the black space with an art pen before adding color with Prismacolor pencils. I love all the color contrast and the eyes in the very bottom left pane that look scared are my absolute fave.

Seeds

More sketching for me. Drawing is not something that comes naturally for me so I'm really challenging myself to do more sketching, and not stress about the outcome. I sat down with a packet of pumpkin seeds in front of me and just copied what I saw. I used colored pencil and then painted the background with watercolors.

Always wanting to add a little extra something to his project, Jeremy tacked a piece of vellum over his page so that only the words in red really show through. He pulled down one corner of of vellum and held it in place with a brad for some added visual effect. It makes a really great crinkly sound when you turn the pages.

Glue ideas...

I'm gonna be a big cheater here and post a single link for glue inspiration. This glue art Pinterest board has almost 70 different ideas that are so creative you won't know where to start.

Geometric

I started out by taking a couple of sheets of watercolored paper that I had painted awhile back for some coffee mug backgrounds and cut them into triangles. Then I inked the sides of them so they didn't look all shiny and new and glued them down onto some pages I had added some color to. Then I snipped up some of the black paper from my letters from yesterday and glued those down too.

It was gluuuuuuuuue everywhere.

Then I just took a Micron and a white paint pen and added some detailing and words to describe myself. These pages dried really stiff and sturdy... love it.

Jeremy took some little Tetris images he'd been toying around with converting into tattoos and expanded the idea. His background is watercolored and the sketches are pencil, Micron and Prismacolor pencils.

I kinda feel like I could do a whole geometric book at this point. The concept is so neat and tidy and methodical, but still creative and artistic. Something is definitely a brewin' in the old brain here.

Outside

Tomorrow's prompt is 'outside.' Have you been thinking of how to interpret it?

what's outside your door?

weather

outside v's inside feelings

ever feel like you're 'on the outside'?

windows

thinking outside the box

it's what on the inside that counts

And now, as I've come down with a cold, I'm off to hug a box of tissues and work on tomorrows prompt. Talk soon!